1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to various curtains for domestic and commercial uses including blackout curtains for theaters and hospitals, and more particularly to a outerlining fabric attached to the top edge of a curtain for enabling attachment of the curtain relative to a curtain rail selectively at a first position in which the curtain rail is exposed from the curtain, or at a second position in which the curtain rail is concealed with the curtain, and also to a curtain attachment structure using the outerlining fabric.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, a curtain includes a outerlining fabric made of a tough woven cloth and attached to a top edge of the curtain to reinforce a suspended portion of the curtain which is subjected to a maximum external force and also to straighten the form of the suspended portion. The outerlining fabric has a plurality of hook-attachment portions formed at predetermined intervals along the length of the outerlining fabric. To attach the curtain to a curtain rail, a plurality of metal hooks are first attached to the corresponding hook-attachment portions of the outerlining fabric and then hooked one by one on the hooks or rings of curtain runners which have been slidably mounted on the curtain rail.
In attaching a curtain to a curtain rail, a need may arise that the vertical relative position between the curtain and the curtain rail be changed. For example, when the curtain rail used is highly decorative, the decorative curtain rail will preferably be exposed from the upper edge of the curtain. In this case, the hooks are attached to the top edge of the curtain. On the other hand, when the curtain rail needs to be concealed with the top edge of the curtain, hooks must be attached to a portion of the curtain located somewhat below the top edge of the curtain.
However, since the hook-attachment portions of the curtain are generally arranged in a single horizontal row, to meet the desire to change the vertical position of the curtain relative to the curtain rail, a set of hooks of an appropriate length is selected out among a plurality of previously prepared sets of hooks of different lengths.
In recent years, the demand for curtains has greatly increased, and replacement and laundering of the curtains have become frequent. To improve the efficiency of a curtain replacement work, various attempts have been proposed to facilitate attachment/detachment of the curtain relative to curtain runners mounted on the curtain rail. For example, according to curtain attachment connectors disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 40-27706 and Japanese Utility Model Laid-open Publication No. 57-142986, a plurality of curtain runners are attached to one of a pair of male and female surface-type separable fastener tapes at predetermined intervals along the whole length of the separable fastener tape, and the other separable fastener tape is attached to a top edge of the curtain along the length thereof for engagement with the one separable fastener tape. Another curtain attachment connector disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-open Publication No. 2-107387 includes a plurality of male or female surface-type separable fastener strips each attached by bonding to the curtain-attachment portion of one of a plurality of curtain runners, and a mating surface-type separable fastener tape attached to and along the top edge of a curtain.
By using the curtain attachment connectors, the curtain can readily be attached to the curtain runners by lightly pressing the male and female surface-type separable fastener members into face-to-face relation. Detachment of the curtain from the curtain runners can readily be effected by progressively peeling the two separable fastener members apart.
However, since the surface-type separable fastener members which are used in the curtain attachment connectors disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese publications are of the general type, they cannot change the vertical attachment position of the curtain relative to the curtain rail. If such a positional change is an indispensable requirement, the position of attachment of the surface-type separable fastener member should be changed for every curtain to be attached.
It may be true that the foregoing requirement can be met by enlarging the width (i.e. vertical distance) of a surface-type separable fastener member attached to the top edge of a curtain. However, the use of a wide surface-type separable fastener member exerts a great influence on the production cost and hence cannot be acceptable in the commercial aspect. In addition, since the wide surface-type separable fastener member has no additional consideration on the formation of pleats beyond the conventional technique, the top edge of the curtain becomes rigid due to the wide surface-type separable fastener member attached thereto. As a result, during the operation of the curtain, and more particularly when the curtain is fully opened, it is hardly possible to place the curtain in a neatly folded condition. Even when a curtain belt is used to bind the curtain, the curtain is likely to be folded unsightly and hence defective from the aesthetic view.